Den tyske Moers Festival er ikke længere først og fremmest en jazzfestival, men et kurateret laboratorium for fri improvisation, lydkunst, kompositionsmusik og politisk absurdisme. Til tider virker det anstrengt. Oftest er det befriende. – Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek https://seismograf.org/en/article/oh-get-lost-moers What kind of festival was this, really? That question kept returning throughout the days at the Moers Festival in western Germany. The festival consistently defied the categories I tried to approach it with. Everywhere there were hand-painted signs reading »Moers ist politisch« and »Not a jazz festival.« The festival began in 1972 as one of Europe’s most important jazz festivals, but today it seems more concerned with escaping definition than affirming it. This year’s theme was Märchen – fairy tales. Plastic garden gnomes appeared as absurd signposts between Kastellplatz, the palace park, and the small paths through the town. A Donald Trump impersonator emerged on a giant mobile phone suspended from a crane above the festival grounds. Between concerts, recordings of the US president’s speeches streamed across the square. No one explained why. That, precisely, seemed to be the point. A clarinettist struck rhythms with a whisk, while another musician later that night set a bamboo flute on fire. The absurd – I quickly learned – was not just an element, but a method. #musician #music #musica #art #germany